dow
Member
I don't know for sure if this belongs under "advanced pen making" or not, so Curtis, move it if you think it needs to be somewhere else.
Anyway, I've made several of the one-piece slim pens like in this article by Bob Altig (thanks Bob, for a great article), One-Piece Slimline, but have had some issues that I'd like to find a way to fix. Specifically, I've made a couple where there was some wood movement, which made the pen hard to twist. Also, on at least one occasion, I've had a pen split after completion, due to what I believe to be a combination of the blank being turned thin to keep the slimline profile, being a wood that had very straight grain, and possibly a change in relative humidity that allowed the wood to dry out on the inside of the body, which caused the crack. Both of these problems, I attribute to the wood on the nib end of the pen being unsupported by a brass tube, as none is glued in. To keep this from happening, I'd like to tube the nib end with a tube that is a slip fit over the standard 7mm tube that slimlines use. Does anyone know if such a diameter tube is available, and if so, what size it is? Additionally, I believe that the pen could be more easily extended and retracted by having brass to brass contact between the nib section and the inside of the pen body.
Thanks for your time,
dow
Anyway, I've made several of the one-piece slim pens like in this article by Bob Altig (thanks Bob, for a great article), One-Piece Slimline, but have had some issues that I'd like to find a way to fix. Specifically, I've made a couple where there was some wood movement, which made the pen hard to twist. Also, on at least one occasion, I've had a pen split after completion, due to what I believe to be a combination of the blank being turned thin to keep the slimline profile, being a wood that had very straight grain, and possibly a change in relative humidity that allowed the wood to dry out on the inside of the body, which caused the crack. Both of these problems, I attribute to the wood on the nib end of the pen being unsupported by a brass tube, as none is glued in. To keep this from happening, I'd like to tube the nib end with a tube that is a slip fit over the standard 7mm tube that slimlines use. Does anyone know if such a diameter tube is available, and if so, what size it is? Additionally, I believe that the pen could be more easily extended and retracted by having brass to brass contact between the nib section and the inside of the pen body.
Thanks for your time,
dow
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